Current Nationwide
Threat Level
ELEVATED
Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks
For information, click here: http://www.dhs.gov
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The Washington Post reports that a standoff at the Discovery Communications building in
Silver, Spring Maryland ended September 1 when authorities shot and killed the suspect holding three hostages, bringing a dramatic close to a tense situation 4 hours after it began, according to police and law enforcement sources. All three hostages are safe and there are
no reports of injuries. (See item 58 )
According to KECI 13 Missoula, PPL Montana is reducing water level in Ennis Lake in
Ennis, Montana as the first step in a plan to assess and repair the damage caused when a large boulder, about the size of a bus, broke loose and fell onto the Madison Dam August
30. (See item 66 )
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Current Electricity Sector Threat Alert Levels: Physical: ELEVATED,
Cyber: ELEVATED
Scale: LOW, GUARDED, ELEVATED, HIGH, SEVERE [Source: ISAC for the Electricity Sector (ES-ISAC) -
[http://www.esisac.com
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1.
August 31, Washington Post – (Virginia) 4,000 gallons of gas spilled in Fairfax. A full gasoline tanker overturned in Fairfax City, Virginia August 28 and fire officials
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estimate about 4,000 gallons were spilled along Little River Turnpike, some of which entered storm drains and a nearby creek, city and county fire officials said. A Fairfax
County fire spokesman said most of the spilled gas had been recovered, because hazardous materials crews quickly set up booms and dikes to stop it from spreading.
The incident began about 12:30 p.m. at the intersection of Pickett Road and Little River
Turnpike, where Fairfax City and Fairfax County meet. The Fairfax City assistant fire chief said a truck from Baltimore Tank Lines had left the tank farm on Pickett Road, turned left onto Little River Turnpike and overturned in the eastbound lanes. Traffic was jammed there for the next 5 hours.
Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/fairfax/tanker-spills-4000gallons-of.html
2.
August 31, WISH 8 Indianapolis – (Indiana) Lawrence cops disrupt IPL copper theft. A Lawrence, Indiana police officer on patrol stumbled upon some would-be copper thieves at an Indianapolis Power and Light Company (IPL) substation August
31. The officer forced the suspects to scramble and leave their loot. The break-in happened around 5:30 a.m. near the Westminister retirement home along Sunnyside
Road. Police said an alarm went off at the substation and they noticed a large amount of copper wire was missing. The would-be thieves had cut 20 sections copper wire about 6 feet in length. Lawrence police set up a perimeter around the area looking for the suspects but have not been able to track them down. The suspects left a truck with the copper inside.
Source: http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/crime/cops-search-for-lawrence-copperthieves
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3.
August 31, Reuters – (National) Atlantic Seaboard oil refiners eye Hurricane
Earl. Hurricane Earl was expected to reach Pennsylvania and New Jersey, home to all the U.S. East Coast’s operating 1.136 million barrels per day (bpd) of refinery capacity, at 2 a.m. August 28, and Canada’s Atlantic region at 2 a.m. August 29. ConocoPhillips
Corp, which operates the 238,000 bpd Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, and the
190,000 bpd plant in Trainer, Pennsylvania, Sunoco Inc, which runs the 335,000 bpd
Philadelphia and 178,000 bpd Marcus Hook refineries in Pennsylvania and Valero
Corp, which operates the 195,000 bpd refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey, said they were monitoring the storm closely. The U.S. Coast Guard District 5, which covers New
Jersey and Pennsylvania, said the impact of Earl was now expected to be less than originally thought as the storm veered further off the coast.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U39Y20100831
4.
September 1, WHIO 95.7 Dayton – (Ohio) Semi carrying chemicals crashes on I-
75. A semi truck lost control on I-75 southbound September 1 and crashed near the
Pennyroyal Road overpass near Clearcreek Township, Ohio. According to firefighters, the big rig was carrying ammonium chloride which they said does not pose any threat
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to other motorists or any people in the area. No injuries were reported. Currently, the crash is not causing any traffic problems.
Source: http://newstalkradiowhio.com/localnews/2010/09/semi-carrying-chemicalscrashe.html
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5.
August 31, WKSR 98.3 FM – (Tennessee) Tanker spill closes Exit 22. An 18-wheeler tanker truck overturned on I-65 early August 31, near exit-22 on the Giles-Marshall
County line in Tennessee. The Giles County Emergency Agency (EMA) director was called to the scene by Marshall County authorities to aid in the containment and cleanup. The tanker was carrying ammonia nitrate, and there was concern that the tanker may have been carrying blasting caps as well. Blasting caps were not found at the scene. At least three people in another vehicle were injured in the accident. The exit 22 on-ramp remained closed for much of the day as crews waited for another tanker truck to offload the remaining chemical from the overturned vehicle. EMA officials evacuated a 330-foot area around the overturned tanker. Both northbound lanes of I-65 were open and traffic were flowing. Motorists were directed to use exit 27 in Lynnville to access the interstate.
Source: http://www.wksr.com/wksr.php?rfc=src/article.html&id=25139
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6.
September 1, Brattleboro Reformer – (Vermont) Salmon releases Vermont Yankee decom fund report. The Vermont state auditor has suggested several improvements for lawmakers and regulators to monitor the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s decommissioning fund. In a management report issued August 31, the auditor put forth recommendations to increase review times of the decommissioning trust fund, proposing to develop a supervising process to entail recurring systematic comparisons of estimates for all components of site clean-up costs. The auditor said Entergy Corp., owner and operator of Vermont Yankee, and the state have expected controls in place for managing and monitoring more than $400 million of decommissioning trust fund assets, but the company could benefit from additional guidelines and more routine analysis of funding status. Opponents of the Vernon-based plant have criticized
Entergy for not fully funding the decommissioning costs to pay for the reactor’s eventual dismantling and removal of radioactive components. Cleaning the site of spent nuclear fuel and other decommissioning activities is expected to cost between $656 and
$991 million (in 2006 dollars). The fund value as of December 2009 was approximately $428 million.
Source: http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_15957225
Nothing to report
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7.
August 31, Agence France-Presse – (National) NASA tests most powerful booster rocket ever. NASA and aerospace company ATK Aerospace Systems successfully tested August 31 the most powerful solid-fuel rocket engine ever, even though its future in the space program remains in doubt. The booster, designated DM-2, was designed as the first stage of the Ares I rocket to provide the lift-off thrust for the next generation of Orion spacecraft, which NASA hoped would return astronauts to the moon by 2020. The U.S. President has said he plans to cancel the Constellation program in which the boosters would have been used, throwing the fate of the nextgeneration engine into question. The second test of the DM-2 was aimed at seeing if it could work at lower temperatures and verify the performance of new design materials.
The solid rocket boosters are an upgrade in design over ones used to propel NASA’s shuttle fleet into space, and are the largest and most powerful ever designed for flight.
The second test of the DM-2, aided by more than 760 on-board measurement devices, showed the motor’s performance had met all expectations.
Source: http://www.spacetravel.com/reports/NASA_tests_most_powerful_booster_rocket_ever_999.html
8.
August 31, DarkReading – (International) ‘BadB’ now charged in RBS WorldPay
ATM case. A Russian man recently arrested for allegedly spearheading a global online identity theft trafficking operation has now also been charged in the RBS WorldPay
ATM case, where cloned cards were used to steal nearly $10 million in less than 12 hours. The suspect who also goes by the name “BadB” — was added to a list of eight
Eastern European defendants who were charged in the case late in 2009, according to a report in Wired. The suspect, who was arrested in France earlier in August for 2009 charges of access-device fraud and aggravated identity theft, is considered one of the most prolific sellers of pilfered card information in the world. In an updated indictment, the suspect is charged with wire fraud and access-device fraud for his alleged role in the crime ring’s cashing out at ATM machines around the globe with the phony, cloned debit cards during November of 2008. “[The suspect] was a casher who fraudulently withdrew RBSW funds from ATMs in or around Moscow, Russia,” the U.S. District
Court of Georgia Atlanta Division indictment says.
Source: http://www.darkreading.com/authentication/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleI
D=227200046&subSection=Attacks/breaches
9.
August 31, Houston Chronicle – (Texas) Bicycle bandit strikes two more Houston banks. The “bicycle bandit” bank robber has likely struck again, FBI officials said,
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pulling off two more heists at two different Houston, Texas financial institutions
August 31. The latest holdups bring the bicycle bandit’s total of known Houston bank robberies to five. The robber first struck the JPMorgan Chase Bank at 7060 Highway 6
North at West Road and Sterling Bank at 15000 Northwest Highway west of West
Little York a little more than 1 hour apart. In both cases, he got away. The suspect got cash in one of the incidents. He did not display a gun in either case, but handed over a threatening demand note to a bank teller and kept his hand on his waistband as if he was hiding a gun or reaching for a weapon. No injuries were reported in either incident.
Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7180124.html
10.
August 31, Pasadena Star-News – (California) Whittier bank evacuated due to suspicious powder. The Citibank branch at Whittwood Town Center in Whittier,
California was evacuated August 31 after two employees broke out in rashes after coming in contact with a suspicious substance. The incident started at 5:15 p.m. after a person brought a bag of money into the bank at 15410 Whittier Blvd., a Los Angeles
County fire captain said. Two tellers said they broke out in rashes on their forearms from a powdery substance on the money, he said. Five of the seven employees on the clock were exposed to the substance, and customers inside the bank at the time of the incident left, but were not exposed to the powder. The bank was evacuated, and at 6:46 p.m., Los Angeles County fire workers in hazardous materials suits entered the branch to test the substance. They could not determine what the substance was, according to a
Los Angeles County fire inspector.
Source: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_15956931
11.
August 31, Bank Info Security – (National) FDIC: 829 troubled banks. The Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) “Problem Bank List” rose to 829 in the second quarter of 2010. This number is up from 775 at the end of the first quarter, according to the federal regulator. The total assets of “problem” institutions declined from $431 billion to $403 billion. The FDIC said the number of troubled banks is the highest since
March 31, 1993, when the number and assets of troubled banks was at 928. One bright spot in the FDIC’s latest announcement is that the increase is the smallest net increase since the first quarter of 2009. The increase in the number of banks on the list of troubled institutions is not surprising, given some parts of the country are still mired in the recession, the American Banking Association’s chief economist said. He noted that banks added another $27 billion in equity capital in the second quarter, and total industry capital is now just short of $1.5 trillion, but he also said the fragile economy still presents significant challenges. Not all banks that are on the list will end up failing.
Industry analysts said the number of failed institutions is expected to peak in 2010 and is a lagging indicator of the country’s recovery.
Source: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=2884
12.
August 31, KOB 4 Albuquerque – (New Mexico) Mobile meth lab forces lockdown of buildings. The discovery of a mobile methamphetamine lab forced the lockdown of two buildings near Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Coronado Mall at 4 a.m. August 31.
Albuquerque police said they pulled over a van and “the driver of the vehicle admitted there was a methamphetamine lab inside the vehicle.” Police blocked off the entire area
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around the First Bank Building, including Lewis University next door. Police said the risk was especially high for anybody in the area because of the type of chemicals used in the mobile meth lab. A special hazardous materials team was called in to help safely dispose of the chemicals. The area remained closed off for several hours. The buildings were reopened by mid-morning. The two people in the van were detained for questioning and subsequently one was arrested, charged with drug manufacturing and trafficking. A gun was also found during the search of the van and if the suspect is found to be a felon, he could additionally face charges of firearm possession.
Source: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1721341.shtml?cat=504
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For another story, see item 59
13.
September 1, Great Falls Tribune – (Montana) Full-scale emergency exercise held today at airport. Great Falls International Airport Authority staff and Montana Air
National Guard personnel will conduct a full-scale emergency exercise today at the airport. The scenario will involve a collision between a commercial passenger plane and a military aircraft, the airport director said. “Everyone using the airport should use caution as there will be emergency response vehicles simulating responses to the airfield and areas southwest of the airport,” the airport public safety manager said.
“Please be aware that this is a full-scale exercise and will involve smoke in the airport area, emergency vehicles responding to the airport and emergency-sounding radio transmissions that may be heard over scanners.” More than 20 agencies will take part, including Montana Air National Guard, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Benefis Health
System, Cascade County Sheriff’s Office, Gore Hill Volunteer Fire Department,
Cascade County Search and Rescue, and the Great Falls police and fire departments.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to conduct such exercises every
3 years, and for Air National Guard units to do such training annually.
Source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100901/NEWS01/9010321
14.
September 1, WSBT-V 2 Atlanta – (Georgia) Retired pilot arrested after flares found in luggage. A retired Eastern Airlines pilot was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport near Atlanta, Georgia, August 30. The man is accused of having signal flares in a metal tube inside his checked luggage. The bomb squad was called and the baggage screening area was evacuated as a result, said a spokesman for the
Transportation Safety Administration. The man said it was a mistake and thinks police were right to arrest him. He said he was flying to Houston, Texas to pick up a small plane and wanted the flares just in case anything went wrong on his return flight. The man faces a misdemeanor reckless conduct charge.
Source: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24833962/detail.html
15.
September 1, Truckinginfo.com
– (National) Safety advisors suggest reducing in-cab distractions. Distracted driving is best countered by a wide-ranging effort to instill a
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culture of safety among all drivers, but in trucking specifically it would be helpful to reduce in-cab distractions, said a committee of safety experts. The Motor Carrier Safety
Advisory Committee August 31 suggested that federal regulators look at technology standards, enforcement, driver education and data collection as they consider ways to limit distracted driving in trucks. In a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration administrator, the committee recommended the agency take existing research as well as risks and benefits into account as it weighs the idea of prohibiting or limiting driver use of in-cab technologies while the truck is moving. The committee suggested the agency consider alternatives to visual messaging, including incentives to promote voice-only technologies. It also urged the agency to consider developing a rule that would provide performance standards for in-cab technologies that might distract drivers.
Source: http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=71539
16.
September 1, Associated Press – (Tennessee) Plane evacuated in Nashville after late worker blows off security screening. A plane was evacuated at Nashville
International Airport in Nashville, Tennessee after a worker who was running late blew off a security screening. More than 30 passengers were pulled off Continental Express flight 2175 August 31, after a luggage handler set off a metal detector then refused to remove his boots and go through again. Instead he left the security checkpoint and began loading baggage onto the plane, operated by ExpressJet. The handler was found and searched and then all the passengers and luggage on the Houston-bound flight were removed. An ExpressJet spokeswoman said the passengers and luggage were rescreened and dogs searched the airplane out of an abundance of caution.
Source: http://www.whnt.com/news/sns-ap-tn--airplaneevacuated,0,4225532.story
17.
September 1, KMGH 7 Denver – (Colorado) Copper thief leaves I-25 motorists in the dark. Thanks to a copper thief, Colorado motorists on Interstate 25 will remain “in the dark” when it comes to travel time between Castle Rock and Colorado Springs. The thief stole copper wiring out of a conduit at a Colorado Department of Transportation
(CDOT) facility near Larkspur. That conduit was part of a network of five “smart signs” which tell motorists the travel time to the next city. “Those signs were supposed to be activated by Labor Day weekend,” said a CDOT spokesman. “That date has been pushed back about 2 weeks.” The smart signs cost taxpayers $630,000. CDOT is spending an additional $40,000 to replace the wiring and to repair the damage.
Source: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24828025/detail.html
18.
August 31, Atlanta Journal-Constitution – (Georgia) Woman shot at Delta facility in
Atlanta. A woman carrying a gun and apparently looking for a Delta Air Lines employee was shot and killed outside the airline’s maintenance facility August 31. An autopsy will be conducted today to determine if she fatally shot herself or if a Clayton
County police officer killed her, a spokesman said. The woman was shot in a sedan inside a secure, employee parking lot at Delta’s technical operations center at
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It’s unclear if she had a security badge or forced her way into the facility. “[She] was looking for a Delta employee who was not at work,” said a police officer, who said the shooting was related to a domestic
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situation.
Source: http://www.securityinfowatch.com/Executives/1317397
19.
August 31, Chicago Tribune – (International) Two Yemeni men arrested in
Amsterdam won’t face charges in U.S. As U.S. officials announced that two Yemeni men arrested in Amsterdam after a flight from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will not face charges in the United States, experts said the case exposed both strengths and weaknesses of U.S. aviation security. The Yemeni citizens did not appear to know each other. The incident started August 29 when bundles of wristwatches and cell phones stuffed inside one man’s suitcase were spotted by airport screeners in
Birmingham, Albama. Then a gate change at O’Hare resulted in both men missing their connection to Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia near Washington D.C. and taking another flight, seated near each other on the plane, to Amsterdam. The bag containing the bizarre collection of items was loaded into the belly of a different United plane bound for Dulles and then on to Dubai, airline officials confirmed, despite a federal requirement that the owners of all checked baggage on international flights must be on board. The bag only made it as far as Dulles, where it was pulled off the plane when airline officials realized there was no passenger matching it. A U.S. official said: “The bottom line for us is they don’t have any charges here. We’ve told the Dutch that we don’t see anything derogatory on these individuals’ records or about their story, so we’re done with it at this point, the whole U.S. government.”
Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/31/2191221/two-yemeni-men-arrested-inamsterdam.html
20.
August 31, WJXT 4 Jacksonville – (Florida) Teen arrested in bus stop explosion. An
18-year-old student was arrested August 31 after an explosion at a Florida bus stop.
Witnesses told Flagler County sheriff’s deputies that while waiting for the morning school bus, the student took a bottle and added a mixture of household cleaner and another household item. Deputies said the student placed the bottle in the grass at the bus stop, and after a few minutes, the bottle exploded. A witness contacted the Flagler
County school, which notified the bus garage. The bus driver was instructed to stop at a safe location and wait for law enforcement, deputies said. The student was taken into custody at the Home Depot parking lot in Palm Coast. After questioning by investigators, the teen was charged with two felonies: possession or discharge of a destructive device at a bus stop and discharging a destructive device.
Source: http://www.news4jax.com/news/24829921/detail.html
21.
August 28, Associated Press – (New York) 2 charged with lying in probe of N.Y.
Amtrak attack. Federal prosecutors have charged two people with lying during an investigation of an attempt to sabotage an Amtrak line on Indian territory in Irving,
New York. The FBI has been probing a July 5 incident in which an Amtrak train carrying 354 passengers hit a barricade of railroad ties on the Seneca Nation’s
Cattaraugus Territory south of Buffalo. The train was moving at 70 mph, but damage wasn’t severe and no one was hurt. Federal prosecutors said their probe has focused on four men who walked along the tracks after leaving a party.
Source: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=13060709
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22.
September 1, WHNS 21 Greenville – (South Carolina) Post office to remain closed until testing complete. Postal officials said that a Greenwood, South Carolina post office closed because of a strange smell August 30 will remain closed until tests are complete. A spokesman for the United State Postal Service said that on August 27, workers at the North Creek Boulevard office began complaining of irritation to their eyes, skin and throat. He said several workers left early to seek medical attention. The spokesman said that air-quality tests were performed over the weekend, but they did not reveal any cause of the smell. He said a National Guard team was called in to conduct further tests and that team completed their assessment August 30. Crews found insecticide in some carpet at the office. The spokesman said that after completing their tests, crews felt safe enough to be inside the building without protective equipment. He said test results from a state lab and an independent air quality company will be completed before the building is reopened. He added that the building would undergo a minimum 24-hour cleanup before it is reopened. During the downtime, the spokesman said that customers can pick up their mail or buy postal products at the Magnolia
Avenue post office.
Source: http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/24829889/detail.html
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23.
September 1, Reno Gazette-Journal – (Nevada) Lyon County Courthouse evacuated because of suspicious envelope. The Lyon County Courthouse in Yerington, Nevada was evacuated for nearly 4 hours August 26, and the bomb squad from the Fallon
Naval Air Station was called to investigate after a suspicious envelope was delivered to the district attorney’s office. The Lyon County emergency management director, who is serving as the interim county manager, said he ordered the evacuation of the courthouse, the courthouse annex and the administrative complex on the advice of the
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms after the package was received at about
11:45 a.m. Lyon County’s deputy emergency management coordinator said the envelope was delivered to the district attorney’s office, and drew suspicion because of its appearance. The emergency management director said the envelope turned out to contain some sort of a hate letter.
Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20100901/FERNLEY01/9010333/1306/FERNLEY
24.
September 1, Kinston Free Pres – (North Carolina) Butterball fire follow up. Butterball management promised short-term employment August 31 for the 17 workers displaced from its Kinston, North Carolina, slicing facility as the company continued to decide to rebuild or relocate the plant that suffered extensive fire damage
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August 30. Administrators with the Garner-based corporation told its Kinston associates during a meeting August 31 that they will move them to Butterball’s Mt.
Olive facility for now, a Butterball publicist said. The Kinston Department of Public
Safety (KDPS) released August 31 the findings of an investigation it conducted on the fire, with the assistance of the state bureau of investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “It was ruled as accidental,” a KDPS spokesman said. “The fire started in the loading dock area with some workers cutting some bolts. It caught onto the walls and spread through the attic to the other side of the building.” The
KDPS has not released a damage estimate yet. Despite the efforts of the KDPS’s Fire and Rescue Division and North Lenoir Volunteer Fire Department, Butterball representatives said the fire damaged the entire facility, including partially collapsing the second-floor and melting vinyl siding from the walls.
Source: http://www.enctoday.com/news/butterball-67928-kfpress-fire-kinston.html
25.
September 1, WTVT 13 Tampa – (Missouri; National) 68,957 pounds of cheese recalled by Mo. dairy. More than 65,000 pounds of cheese is being recalled due to possible Listeria and Staphylococcus aureus contamination, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) said August 30. The cheese is being recalled by Morningland
Dairy of Mountain View, Missouri. Its raw milk cheese is sold in the continental U.S. in stores and by mail, as well as through crop sharing associations. The company sells its cheese in vacuum-sealed plastic packages. The FDA said the recalled codes are handwritten on the front of the package labels, ranging from A10 (representing January
1, 2010) through F250 (representing June 25, 2010). The specific brands and varieties being recalled are as follows: Morningland Dairy Raw Milk Cheese (from cow milk)
Hot Pepper, garlic, Italian, and dill Colby, No salt added mild, mild, medium sharp, and sharp cheddar; and Ozark Hill Farms Raw Goat Milk Cheese, Regular, hot pepper,
Italian, and garlic ‘n’ chive Colby, Mild, sharp, and medium sharp cheddar. Those who have bought any of these cheeses should not eat it, the FDA said, due to the possible contamination.
Source: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/68957-pounds-of-cheeserecalled-by-mo-dairy-090110
26.
September 1, Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic – (Missouri) Piedmont man pleads guilty to making bomb threat at factory. A Piedmont, Missouri, man pleaded guilty August 27 in federal court to calling in a bomb threat at Windsor Foods in
Piedmont, the Daily American Republic reported. The 27-year-old suspect pleaded guilty as charged to one felony count of using a telephone to make a false bomb threat before a U.S. district judge in Cape Girardeau, according to an assistant U.S. attorney.
The suspect faces a range of punishment of not more than 10 years imprisonment and a
$250,000 fine, followed by not more than a 3-year period of supervised release. He was charged in connection with a telephone call made at about 5:45 a.m. November 5 to the
Wayne County Sheriff’s Department indicating there were bombs at Windsor Foods.
The call, a Piedmont police chief said, was from a “male subject, who stated his name was Marty and that he had placed several pipe bombs around Windsor Foods and one inside the building.” Officers determined the call originated from a pay telephone at a
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Piedmont convenience store.
Source: http://www.semissourian.com/story/1660716.html
27.
August 31, Lawrence Journal-World – (Kansas) Two Topeka men arrested on suspicion of stealing copper from Farmland Industries. Douglas County Sheriff’s officers have arrested two Topeka, Kansas, men suspected of stealing copper from the former Farmland Industries plant in Lawrence, Kansas the evening of August 31. A sheriff’s spokesman said deputies patrolling the property at 1608 N. 1400 Road on foot encountered two men who ran away from them. Deputies caught one suspect, and picked up the other man about 3 hours later when he was walking next to Kansas
Highway 10. Deputies collected evidence indicating the men were attempting to steal copper wire, he said. According to court documents, the suspects attempted to cut wires at an outlet box. Douglas County prosecutors August 31 charged the two men with one count each of obstruction, criminal trespassing and theft, all misdemeanor charges.
Deputies were patrolling the former Farmland plant because of several recent electrical wire thefts. Lawrence police have taken several reports of copper thefts from airconditioning units at businesses this summer in the city, and rural property owners, farmers and businesses in the county have had problems as well.
Source: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/aug/31/two-topeka-men-arrestedsuspicion-stealing-copper-/
28.
August 31, KARE 11 Minneapolis – (Minnesota) Dakota County sheriffs investigate copper wire thefts. The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota is investigating a series of copper wire thefts taken primarily from irrigation systems in southern Dakota
County in the Hastings area. One additional theft involved a large amount of copper wire from a gravel pit. According to the sheriff, the thieves enter into farm fields during the night time, stripping the copper wire that runs along the length of the irrigator which powers the wheels. This type of wire is heavy gauge and runs several hundred feet in length. Over the past several weeks, the sheriff’s office has responded to five thefts with a combined loss of nearly $15,000. Typically, the copper is sold to scrap metal dealers. Additional thefts of copper have occurred in northern Goodhue County and may be related to the Dakota County thefts. The sheriff is asking residents in the rural areas of Dakota County to report any suspicious activity they see in farm fields or gravel pits. He also asks that scrap metal dealers obtain the identification of individuals attempting to sell large amounts of copper wire and to advise the sheriff’s office.
Source: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=869205
29.
August 31, Institute for Southern Studies – (Louisiana) Independent tests find oil spill contamination in Louisiana oysters and crabs. Tests performed earlier in August by an environmental scientist found significant levels of oil pollution from the BP disaster in oysters and crabs collected along the Gulf of Mexico’s Louisiana coastline. Working with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) and the Lower Mississippi
Riverkeeper, an award-winning chemist took samples of soil, vegetation, blue crabs, fiddler crabs and oysters in areas affected by pollution from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The test results showed the presence of hydrocarbons corresponding to those from the spill in the soil and vegetation. They also showed high levels of hydrocarbons
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in sea life. Hydrocarbon exposure has been linked to health problems including disorders of the nervous and immune systems, blood, liver, kidneys and lungs, as well as cancer. Oysters collected from a reef on Oyster Bayou in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya
Bay contained 8,815 milligrams/kilogram of hydrocarbons, the chemist reports.
Samples of blue crab and fiddler crab collected from the same area contained 2,230 mg/kg of hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, oysters collected between Pass-a-Loutre and
Redfish Bay — the area where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf — contained
12,500 mg/kg of hydrocarbons, or about 1.25 percent of their total weight, according to the chemist. Previously, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals released a seafood safety surveillance report that did not detect concentrations of any specific hydrocarbons above levels of concern.
Source: http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/08/independent-tests-find-oil-spillcontamination-in-louisiana-oysters-and-crabs.html
30.
August 30, Reuters – (National) Is genetically altered fish OK? U.S. to decide. U.S. health officials are set to rule on whether a faster-growing, genetically engineered fish is safe to eat in a decision that could deliver the first altered animal food to consumers’ dinner plates. The fish, made by Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc, is manipulated to grow twice as fast as traditional Atlantic salmon, something the company saID could boost the nation’s fish sector and reduce pressure on the environment. But consumer advocates and food safety experts are worried that splicing and dicing fish genes may have the opposite effect, leading to more industrial farming and potential escapes into the wild. Side effects from eating such fish are also unknown, with little data to show it is safe, they said. The small Massachusetts-based biotechnology company is seeking
Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its salmon, called AquAdvantage, to fish farmers nationwide. If given the green light, the salmon could be followed by the company’s engineered trout and tilapia. Other scientists are also developing altered pigs and cows for food. The United States already allows genetically modified plants.
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67T5OX20100830
31.
August 19, Charleston Gazette – (West Virginia) Man arrested in threat to blow up
St. Albans Kroger. A Putnam County, West Virginia, man has been arrested after threatening to blow up the Kroger in St. Albans during a failed robbery attempt.
Around 4:30 p.m. August 19, a 34-year-old Scott Depot man walked up to the service desk at the Kroger on MacCorkle Avenue in St. Albans and demanded money from the clerk, according to a news release from a St. Albans Police Department official. The suspect allegedly threatened to “blow the place up,” and shoot everyone in the store unless they handed over the money. The suspect did not have a weapon. He was allegedly yelling and screaming at the clerk, which drew attention from nearby shoppers at the checkout counters, according to the release. Kanawha County Metro
911 dispatcher immediately dispatched the call, highlighting the man’s threat to blow up the store. St. Albans Police requested assistance from the Kanawha County Sheriff’s
Department bomb technicians before responding to the disturbance.
Source: http://wvgazette.com/News/201008190827
For another story, see item 60
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32.
September 1, WXXA 23 Albany – (New York) Thousands of gallons of raw sewage dump in Hudson. The mayor of Cohoes, New York, said the city does know what caused three sewage pumps to break down August 31. Animals are abundant along the
Salt Kill in Cohoes and experts said they could be in danger. The morning of August
31, a major pump breakdown sent 27,000 gallons of nasty black ooze directly into the waterway that leads to the Hudson River. It is bacteria-ridden raw sewage and it smells as bad as it looks, people indicated. The mayor said the spill started when the city’s main sewage pump and both backups failed one right after the other. The city said someone flushed several towel-like dish rags that got caught up in the system and blew out each of the new pump motors. Downriver, some said they did not know about the leak. The mayor said the city has already ordered three replacement pumps. He expects them to be in by 2 p.m. September 1.
Source: http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/27-000-gallons-of-sewage-spillinto-Hudson/hW9xdcOuR0qaHeNmgjcpLQ.cspx
33.
August 31, Lake County News-Sun – (Illinois) Water plant springs leak. The North
Chicago, Illinois water plant is leaking water — not from the fillers and pipes, but from the roof. The plant manager said about one-third of the roof, or 5,800 square feet, is leaking. If nothing is done to correct it, the leak could damage the plant’s filtration system, he said. “We’ve had to put plastic coverings over the filters,” he said. He noted the plants ceilings, the insulation and the outside roofing sheets all have water damage.
Four price quotes were gathered. Three involved replacing two sections of current EPM system roof at costs ranging from $47,000 to $52,000. However, another price for three sections of TPO roofing came in at $49,500. TPO also is more durable, has a 20-year warranty and will reflect light from the surface, reducing air-conditioning costs. He estimates the roof will save $2,100 per year and $30,000 over a 15-year period.
Aldermen are expected to adopt the contract if it is ready for the September 7 city council meeting.
Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/2655830,5_1_WA31_NCHILE
AK_S1-100831.article
34.
August 31, KVUE 33 Austin – (Texas) Broken pipe to blame for 100,000 gallons spilled sewage. The Austin, Texas water utility said a broken pipe is to blame for a sewage spill of more than 100,000 gallons. Crews found the break August 30 in a wooded area in Central Austin near Loyola and Wentworth after callers reported a foul smell. Most of the sewage spilled into a retention pond, though some did get into Elm
Creek. Workers are replacing about 20 feet of pipe and installing an additional manhole in the area. Repairs should take about a week. The problem is not affecting anyone’s drinking water.
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Source: http://www.kvue.com/news/Broken-pipe-to-blame-for-100000-gallons-spilledsewage-101913878.html
35.
August 27, KING 5 Seattle – (Washington) Prank sends hydrant water gushing into homes. At least five homeowners in Bellingham, Washington, are cleaning up after waking up in the middle of the night August 27 to find water gushing into their houses.
Bellingham Police arrested a 19-year-old man, who they said is responsible for uncapping five fire hydrants throughout the city, sending a high pressured stream of water flowing into the streets and into basements. At least one resident reported thousands of dollars in damage. Two hydrants were opened in the Fairhaven
Neighborhood on Bayside Road in Bellingham. The teenager was arrested after a short vehicle pursuit with Bellingham Police. A passenger in that same vehicle fled the scene and is still at-large. A Bellingham Police spokesman said the teen they arrested was drunk and in possession of marijuana. Investigators found several hydrant caps in the vehicle and a pair of rubber boots. “This was also a public safety issue,” he said. “If five hydrants are all gushing at once, it lowers the water pressure in the entire city. That could be a hindrance to firefighters trying to put out a fire if they had to”. The teen is booked in the Whatcom County Jail and is facing charges of malicious mischief, DUI, and possession of marijuana.
Source: http://www.king5.com/news/local/Prank-sends-hydrant-water-gushing-intohomes-101665958.html
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For more stories, see items 1
and 65
36.
August 31, KAIT 8 Jonesboro – (Arkansas) Greene Acres Nursing home evacuated because of smoke; no injuries reported. Residents at the Greene Acres Nursing
Home in Paragould, Arkansas, were evacuated after smoke was reported in the building, August 31. According to the Paragould Fire Department, an air conditioning unit shorted out sending smoke into the building around 11:30 a.m. Fire crews said when they arrived, residents had already been evacuated from the affected area and were in no danger. The Paragould Fire Department told Region 8 News that no damage was done to the facility, only to the air conditioning unit that shorted out. Residents were allowed back in after about 45 minutes.
Source: http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13074017
37.
August 31, New Jersey Local News Service – (New Jersey) Chatham Township nursing home is evacuated due to smoke condition. About 90 elderly residents of the two-story Juniper Senior Residence on Southern Boulevard in Chatham township, New
Jersey, were evacuated August 31 after smoke was reported coming from a light fixture in a ceiling, police said. Some residents were roused from their sleep as police officers, firefighters and employees of the residence went unit-to-unit to evacuate the building at
8 a.m., said a spokesman for the Chatham Township Police Department. For nearly 1
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hour residents waited, some in wheelchairs and walkers, to be allowed back in the building, he said. The source of the smoke was not located, he said, and no injuries were reported.
Source: http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2010/08/chatham_township_nursing_home.ht
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38.
August 31, WXIN 59 Indianapolis – (Indiana) St. Vincent ER evacuated due to suspicious car. The morning of August 31, the emergency room at St. Vincent
Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, on West 86th Street was evacuated due to a report of an unknown vehicle in the parking lot. The car was unoccupied and parked at the front entrance to the emergency room (ER). Metro police, along with the fire department and bomb squad, were called in as a precaution. After careful examination of the car, officials said they found nothing suspicious. During the search, some people were moved out of the ER area and into other areas of the hospital. An “all clear” was issued, and the situation is back to normal according to a source within the hospital.
Source: http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-st-vincent-er-evacuated-
083110,0,7166511.story
39.
August 31, DarkReading – (Delaware) Delaware contractor mistakenly posts personal data of 22,000 employees. AON Consulting, the state of Delaware’s benefits consultant, mistakenly posted the Social Security numbers, gender, and birth dates of about 22,000 retired state workers on the Web 3 weeks ago, state officials and the company said August 30. According to a news report, the information was part of a request for proposal that AON had supplied to the state’s procurement Web site to solicit bids from insurance companies interested in providing vision benefits to state employees and retirees. The information, which did not include the retirees’ names, remained on the Web from August 16 to August 20, when the breach was discovered, the report said. A spokesman for AON said the identifying information was supposed to be “randomized” before it was forwarded to the state. “In its place should have been different identifiers, obviously nothing associated with individuals,” the spokesman said, adding that the company is investigating what went wrong. The director of the
Delaware Office of Management and Budget’s statewide benefits office said the identifying information was not included in earlier versions of the proposal that were reviewed by her office. It only appeared in the final version, but no one spotted the change.
Source: http://www.darkreading.com/database_security/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?arti
cleID=227200092
40.
August 31, Associated Press – (Idaho) 3 killed when copter crashes in Idaho downtown. A helicopter chartered by a state wildlife agency plunged into a travel
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trailer and crashed August 31 on a downtown street in the small town of Kamiah,
Idaho, killing two biologists and the pilot, authorities said. Officials suspect mechanical failure caused the aircraft to flip over before it plummeted from the sky just a block from Main Street. Debris was scattered along several blocks, but no one on the ground was injured. The Department of Fish and Game had chartered the aircraft from
Clarkston, Wash.-based Leading Edge Aviation to use on a trip counting salmon spawning nests on the Selway River.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isP9WayS-E8CqN-
LFLGhVoHBxfYgD9HUO83G0
41.
August 31, Associated Press – (Georgia) Bomb squad blows up Civil War cannonballs in Ga. Authorities said they destroyed a pair of Civil War-era cannon balls on display at a Kennesaw, Georgia college after officials realized they were live.
A Kennesaw State University spokeswoman said a bomb squad removed the relics
August from the third floor of the social sciences building after authorities became concerned they posed a danger. The building was evacuated as a precaution and students were let back in later. A Cobb County spokeswoman said the bombs had been detonated and that it would be hard to know if they could have gone off on their own.
According to a school press release, the cannon balls have been in a display case in a room of the social sciences building for 3 years.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h7IZ4wi7PxDziF80CwuRgNv1IYgD9HU3MLG1
42.
August 31, Burlington Free Press – (Vermont) Student threatens to blow up St.
Albans school. A Bellows Free Academy student was arrested August 27 for threatening to blow up and burn down the St. Albans, Vermont school, which was in session at the time, the St. Albans police chief said. The 16-year old boy was upset and did not have any bomb-making material, the police chief said. “These things are taken very seriously by us and the schools,” he said. “I think that anytime someone makes a threat like that we have to take it seriously.” Police responded to a report of an “out of control” student at the school at about 12:10 p.m. After a brief struggle, police arrested the student and cited him with false public alarm, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Police released him with a citation to appear in court, the police chief said. The school was not evacuated, he said.
Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100831/NEWS02/100831016/Studentthreatens-to-blow-up-St.-Albans-school
43.
August 31, KGO 7 San Francisco – (California) Bomb sqaud investigates explosives in pickup. A bomb squad was sent to San Francisco City College in San Francisco,
California August 31, because of some explosives in the back of a pickup truck. A tow truck driver was about to tow the pickup away when the owner told him there were explosives in the back. Police had the pick-up towed to the nearby city college Ocean
Campus parking lot. The bomb squad roped off the area and used a robot to investigate.
People with cars in the lot were told it could be a few hours before they can get them.
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Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7642964
44.
August 30, Government Executive – (National) Nuclear security remains bulk of
Energy budget. From nuclear weapons to wind turbines, the Energy Department has a singular focus: security. Much of the department’s investment centers on the research and development necessary to reduce the nation’s dependence on petroleum, which is inherent in improving economic stability. But most of its budget, however, remains firmly committed to securing the nation’s nuclear stockpile and vulnerable nuclear material around the world, as well as cleaning up the radioactive waste that is the legacy of Cold War nuclear programs. Of the Presidential administration’s $28.4 billion budget request for Energy in 2011, nearly three-quarters is slated for weapons programs, nonproliferation and cleanup activities. The National Nuclear Security
Administration, a quasi-independent agency within Energy, would receive $11 billion, a 13 percent increase over 2010 funding. Most of that money would go to programs aimed at efficient management of nuclear weapons. “The President has an aggressive nuclear security agenda,” said deputy administrator for defense programs at NNSA, said in a briefing for reporters this summer. “I’ll be paying attention broadly to the kind of scientific challenges, the people and capabilities we need in our facilities to continue to underpin the health of our stockpile as well as fast forward any life-extension programs we might undertake,” he said.
Source: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0810/083010mag1.htm
45.
August 29, Associated Press – (New Jersey) Legislators tout N.J. campus safety measure. New Jersey lawmakers are touting legislation aimed at ensuring that the state’s colleges and universities have plans in place to address major on-campus emergencies. Under the proposal, the schools would file comprehensive 5-year campus security plans, which would identify their preparedness for potential emergencies, with state homeland security and higher education officials. Those officials, if needed, would then provide specific comments on areas of plans they deem deficient. The plans would spell out a clear delegation of authority and provide for the protection of vital records. They also would specify procedures for periodic testing, to help ensure plans are current and working properly. And if a major on-campus emergency did occur, the affected school’s security plan would then be immediately reviewed to see how it worked and what — if any — changes should be made. The assembly approved the legislation by an 80-0 vote in June and sent it to the denate, where it was referred to the education committee. But so far, that panel hasn’t scheduled a hearing on the proposal.
Source: http://cbs3.com/wireapnewsnj/Measure.mandates.NJ.2.1884932.html
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For more stories, see items 12
and 23
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46.
August 31, WOFL 35 Orlando – (Florida) Vandals damage Red Cross vehicles. Vandals damaged four American Red Cross vehicles including three emergency response vehicles and one box truck parked at the Central Florida Chapter on Bumby Avenue in Orlando, Florida. A volunteer discovered the graffiti August 30, and it was reported to the Orlando Police Department. A Red Cross spokesperson said the emergency response vehicles are used to deliver disaster relief supplies, food and water to the community.
Source: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/orange_news/083110-vandalsdamage-red-cross-vehicles
47.
August 31, Los Angeles Times – (International) Mexico fires 3,200 federal police officers. About 3,200 Mexican federal police officers, nearly a tenth of the force, have been fired this year under new rules designed to weed out crooked cops and modernize law enforcement, officials said August 30. The housecleaning is part of the Mexican’s president crackdown on drug cartels, which includes overhauling the 34,500-strong federal police force. An additional 465 federal officers have been charged with breaking the law, and 1,020 others face disciplinary action after failing screening tests, officials said. The new police standards, which took effect in May, are aimed at cleaning up Mexico’s graft-plagued police force through lie detector tests, financial disclosure statements and drug testing. The government has sought to improve the caliber of federal officers by boosting wages and requiring that recruits have college degrees. The United States has backed the reform push by helping evaluate officers and supplying trainers for a state-of-the-art police academy in the city of San Luis Potosi.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-police-fired-
20100831,0,5955735.story
48.
August 31, Salisbury Daily Times – (Delaware) False alarms carry big price. Several rescue agencies flooded Dewey Beach, Delaware when a call came in regarding a distressed swimmer August 28. Helicopters flew overhead, frenzied beachgoers eyed the horizon as several boats scanned the area, and all of this, officials discovered, for a balloon. It wasn’t the first time this has occurred, a Dewey Beach Patrol captain said.
“We are starting to see a certain frequency of laypersons mistaking [inanimate objects] for people,” he said. While it’s better to err on the side of caution, the captain said these false alarms are expensive and consume valuable resources. In addition to the cost of manpower, which varies depending on the number of responding agencies, The officer in charge of the Coast Guard station at the Indian River Inlet, said launching boats and helicopters can be expensive.
Source: http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100831/DW01/8310304/-1/DW
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For another story, see item 38
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49.
September 1, Help Net Security – (International) Corporate espionage for dummies:
HP scanners. Web servers have become commonplace on just about every hardware device from printers to switches. Despite typically being completely insecure, such
Web servers on printers/scanners are generally of little interest from a security perspective, even though they may be accessible over the Web, due to network misconfigurations. A researcher was recently looking at a newer model of an HP printer/scanner combo and something caught his eye. HP has for some time, embedded remote scanning capabilities into network aware scanners, a functionality referred to as
Webscan. Webscan allows one to not only remotely trigger the scanning functionality, but also retrieve the scanned image, all via Web browser. The feature is generally turned on by default with absolutely no security whatsoever. With over $1B in printer sales in Q3 2010 alone, and with many of the devices being all-in-one printers, running across an HP scanner in the enterprise is certainly very common. What many businesses do not realize, is that their scanners may by default allow anyone on the
LAN to remotely connect to the scanner and if a document was left behind, scan and retrieve it using nothing more than a browser. As everything is Web based, an enterprising but disgruntled employee could simply write a script to regularly run the scanner in the hopes of capturing an abandoned document.
Source: http://www.net-security.org/article.php?id=1484
50.
September 1, The Register – (International) Survey scammers serve up supposed shelter from survey scams. Cheeky scammers are offering prospective marks an application that supposedly shields them from exposure to survey scams. Naturally, a user first has to fill in a survey to install the script, which is punted through
Userscripts(dot)org. Odds are that even after jumping through these hoops, users will still be exposed to surveys and, possibly, left at a heightened risk of malware infection.
“ ‘Only install scripts from sources you trust’ is on the install box for a reason,” a security researcher of GFI Security notes.â
€ ¨â € ¨ Survey scams are becoming increasing common on social networks. Scammers (affiliates) profit from wasting surfers’ time with the Web 2.0 equivalent of e-mail spam. Often the spammers attempt to hoodwink users into signing up to premium rate SMS services.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/01/survey_scam_spam/
51.
August 31, Computerworld – (International) Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks. Microsoft August 31 again abstained from naming which of its Windows programs, if any, contain bugs that could lead to widespread “DLL load hijacking” attacks. Also August 31, the company published an automated tool to make it easier for users to block attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in a host of Windows applications. The DLL load hijacking vulnerabilities exist in many Windows applications because the programs do not call code libraries — dubbed “dynamic-link library,” or “DLL” — using the full pathname, but instead use only the filename.
Criminals can exploit that by tricking the application into loading a malicious file with the same name as the required DLL. The result: Hackers can hijack the PC and plant malware on the machine. Although Microsoft again declined to call out its vulnerable software, outside researchers have identified as potential targets a number of its highprofile apps, including Word 2007, PowerPoint 2007 and 2010, Address Book and
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Windows Contact, and Windows Live Mail. In another blog, an engineer with the
Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) and an MSRC program manager, described how customers can deploy and use a tool Microsoft first offered August 23.
That tool blocks the loading of DLLs from remote directories, such as those on USB drives, Web sites and an organization’s network, and is aimed at enterprise IT personnel.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9183078/Microsoft_still_mum_on_programs_ prone_to_DLL_hijacking_attacks
52.
August 31, TrendLabs Malware Blog – (International) New zero-day vulnerabilities imminent. An independent group of security researchers has announced that they will be releasing zero-day vulnerabilities, Web application vulnerabilities, and proof-ofconcept (POC) exploits for patched vulnerabilities throughout September. Many highprofile vendors such as Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla are among those whose products will apparently have vulnerabilities revealed during the month. According to a
Trend Micro researcher, the vulnerabilities to be announced refer to a collection of old and new ones primarily targeting Microsoft. The new vulnerabilities can be considered zero-day flaws and will leave users vulnerable until a vendor patch is offered and applied. However, the process may take some time. Until then, users should use any suggested workarounds. It is also believed that detailed information for recently released advisories will be published. It is possible the data released includes POC code, making exploits more likely. Exploit packs on malicious and compromised Web sites will probably include these new exploits as well. Any new information released during this period will likely be quickly exploited, putting more users at risk. Highprofile applications like Internet Explorer (one of the programs that the researchers have indicated they will release a vulnerability for) can have exploit code released within hours of the POC code’s announcement. Portions of the many exploits already in the wild can be reused in any new exploit attack, further hastening the process.
Source: http://blog.trendmicro.com/new-zero-day-vulnerabilities-imminent/
53.
August 31, IDG News Service – (International) Alleged ransomware gang investigated by Moscow police. Russian police are reportedly investigating a criminal gang that installed malicious “ransomware” programs on thousands of PCs and then forced victims to send SMS messages in order to unlock their PCs. The scam has been ongoing and may have made Russian criminals millions of dollars, according to reports by Russian news agencies. Russian police seized computer equipment and detained a
Russian “crime family” in connection with the crime, the ITAR-TASS News Agency reported August 31. Russian-language reports said that 10 people are expected to be charged and that tens of thousands of Russian-language victims were hit by the scam, which also affected users in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. The criminals reportedly used news sites to spread their malicious software, known as WinLock, which disables certain Windows components, rendering the PC unusable, and then displays pornographic images. To unlock the code, victims must send SMS messages that cost between 300 rubles (US $9.72) and 1,000 rubles. The scam is “very popular” in countries such as Russia at the moment, antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab said in an e-
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mailed statement.
Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/204577/alleged_ransomware_gang_inv estigated_by_moscow_police.html
54.
August 31, IDG News Service – (International) Huge spamming botnet injured but still alive. A botnet responsible for a significant amount of spam has been crippled but may reconstitute itself in a matter of weeks, according to vendor M86 Security. The
Pushdo or Cutwail network of hacked computers ranked in the top five or so botnets for spam, responsible for as much as 10 percent of all spam, said a product manager for
M86 Security. The spam often advertises fake software, so-called designer goods and questionable pharmaceutical products. But security analysts with the computer security company LastLine took action recently, contacting ISPs that were hosting the command-and-control infrastructure for the botnet. About 30 servers at eight hosting providers were found to be supporting Pushdo. LastLine contacted the ISPs, and about
20 of the servers were taken offline, according to its blog. Some ISPs, however, were unresponsive. LastLine appears to have taken down parts of Pushdo and Cutwail, which work together, wrote a researcher of FireEye’s Malware Intelligence Lab, in a blog post. Pushdo is a Trojan. Once it infects a computer, it often downloads Cutwail, a piece of malware capable of spamming as well as downloading other bad programs.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9182879/Huge_spamming_botnet_injured_bu t_still_alive
Internet Alert Dashboard
To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US-CERT at sos@us-cert.gov
or visit their Web site: http://www.us-cert.gov
Information on IT information sharing and analysis can be found at the IT ISAC (Information Sharing and
Analysis Center) Web site: https://www.it-isac.org
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55.
September 1, TG Daily – (National) New system predicts solar storms - but ESA says satellites are safe. Researchers have developed a new method of predicting solar storms that they say could help to avoid power and communications blackouts. The next major solar storms are expected in 2012 and 2013 as part of the sun’s 11-year weather cycle. A 2008 U.S. National Academy of Sciences report estimated that modern reliance on electronics and satellite communications means a major storm could cause 20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina. Up to now, solar weather prediction has been carried out manually, with experts looking at 2D satellite images of the sun and assessing the likelihood of future activity. But a team from the
University of Bradford’s Centre for Visual Computing has now created the first online automated prediction system, using 3D images generated from the joint NASA/ESA
- 21 -

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (SOHO). The Automated Solar Activity
Prediction system (ASAP) identifies and classifies sunspots and then feeds this information through a model which can predict the likelihood of solar flares. The system is able to accurately predict a solar flare 6 hours in advance, said the team.
According to the European Space Agency, there is little chance that satellites will actually be fried by solar storms. The agency is shortly to launch its first four operational Galileo satellites.
Source: http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/51348-new-system-predicts-solarstorms-but-esa-says-satellites-are-safe
56.
August 31, De Soto Explorer – (Kansas) Schools experiencing phone outages have service restored. After more than 2 hours, phone service to five De Soto school district campuses in Johnson County, Kansas was restored shortly after 12:30 p.m. August 31.
Several schools in the De Soto district began experiencing a phone outage around 10 a.m. Starside Elementary, Lexington Trails Middle School, De Soto High School, Mill
Creek Middle School and Mize Elementary all experienced the loss of phone service.
The cause of the outage was on AT&T’s end of the line, but the company failed to provide a definitive reason for the outage. Affected schools were still able to contact emergency services.
Source: http://www.desotoexplorer.com/posts/home/2010/aug/31/some-schoolsexperiencing/
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For another story, see item 58
57.
September 1, USA Today – (Pennsylvania) Pa. hotels endure ‘summer of terror’ with rash of armed robberies. At least nine hotels in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley including a Hilton Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express have been hit by a series of armed robbers since late May. Police are still trying to determine if the same person is holding up the hotels. The latest robbery happened August 31, when three robbers held up a Super 8 in Allentown. One of the men held a gun, and the other two wielded knives. Two people received minor injuries, although details were not available.
Source: http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2010/09/rash-of-armed-robberies-hitpennsylvania-hotels-in-summer-ofterror/110801/1?csp=34travel&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_cam paign=Feed:+UsatodaycomTravel-TopStories+(Travel+-+Top+Stories)
58.
September 1, Washington Post – (Maryland) Discovery building hostage situation ends with suspect James J. Lee fatally shot. A standoff at the Discovery
Communications building in Silver, Spring Maryland ended September 1 when authorities shot and killed the suspect holding three hostages, bringing a dramatic close to a tense situation 4 hours after it began, according to police and law enforcement
- 22 -

sources. All three hostages are safe and there are no reports of injuries, said the
Montgomery County police chief. Sources said the suspect is a man who railed against the Discovery Channel for years. Law enforcement officials fired at 4:48 p.m. because police “believed the hostages’ lives were in danger,” the police chief said. Police had been negotiating with the suspect for several hours, and spoke to him minutes before firing. An explosive device the suspect had in his possession appeared to go off, the police chief said. Police were working late September 1 to clear suspicious devices in the building. The standoff began at 1 p.m. after a man walked into the large office building waving a handgun and wearing what appeared to be metallic canisters on his chest and back. The police chief said most of the 1,900 people who work in the building were safely evacuated, including all of the children at the day-care center located there. He said some employees could still be on the upper levels of the building.
A different official said the suspect previously protested outside the building. In a manifesto posted on a Web site, and in newspaper ads, he excoriated the Discovery
Channel and protested it because the company’s programming had little to do with saving the planet. The suspect was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after a
February 2008 protest in front of the Discovery building. His probation for that arrest ended in the middle of August 2010. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) and FBI officials also responded to the September 1 incident.
Discovery Communications Inc. operates cable and satellite networks in 180 countries.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090103911_pf.html
59.
August 31, KRIV 26 Houston – (Texas) Tenants concerned after Chase building fire. The 36-story J.P. Morgan Chase Building in Houston, Texas, caught fire on the
27th floor at approximately 8 p.m August 31. Houston Fire Department arson investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire. The call went to 4 alarms as the fire department had trouble getting water to the flames. A water pipe inside the building broke, requiring firefighters to pump in the water from the street. It took 2 and
1/2 hours to get the fire tapped out. In the process, six firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to an area hospital where they were treated and released. The fire department said it was successful in limiting fire damage to the 27th floor, but water and smoke damaged is still being assessed.
Source: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/business/100831-chase-building-fire
60.
August 31, ARLnow.com
– (Virginia) Hazmat response at Lyon Village Shopping
Center. Arlington, Virginia firefighters and the hazardous materials team responded to the Lyon Village Shopping Center August 31 after several people in Starbucks reported feeling ill as a result of a strong odor. Firefighters went up to the roof and removed a bucket of epoxy that was being used for some sort of roofing work. A building inspector and a health inspector were called in to evaluate the situation. The Starbucks was closed, but all other stores in the shopping center were still open.
Source: http://www.arlnow.com/2010/08/31/hazmat-response-at-lyon-villageshopping-center/
For another story, see item 12
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61.
August 31, KVAL 13 Eugene – (Oregon) Forest fire could burn until late
October. Record rainfall in the Eugene/Springfield area did little to quiet fires burning in the mountains of Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service expects a forest fire burning between McKenzie Bridge and Sisters to burn until late October. The Scott Mountain fire has grown to 3,454 acres and is 30 percent contained. Firefighters want to keep the fire inside the Mount Washington Wilderness and away from a watershed that supplies water to Eugene and high-value timber. A substantial increase in fire behavior is anticipated over the next several days as the area where the Oak Flat fire is burning returns to typical early-September weather .The fire area received an average of onetenth of an inch of rain over the last 24 hours, which slowed the fire but did not stop it.
This allowed firefighters time to strengthen containment lines to prepare for burning out operations designed to remove fuel between the fire’s edge and the firelines.
Source: http://www.kcby.com/news/local/101896738.html
62.
August 31, Associated Press – (California) Busted pot growers mistake wardens for suppliers. California wildlife officials said two men are in custody after a group of marijuana growers started to toss bags full of pot into a pickup truck belonging to game wardens they mistook for their suppliers. A state department of fish and game spokesman said two wardens in Tehama County were looking for deer poachers late
August 30 in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest when they heard footsteps behind them. They turned and saw five men hauling large military-style duffel bags and sleeping bags. The men approached the wardens’ truck as if to toss the bags in the bed.
The wardens began shouting commands at the group and managed to handcuff two, one of whom was carrying a shotgun. Three others escaped into the forest. The wardens recovered 127 pounds of processed marijuana.
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15958100
63.
August 31, Associated Press – (Montana) Davis wildfire burns 8 structures, no homes. Officials said a 2,000-acre wildfire northwest of Helena, Montana, appears to have burned eight structures, though none were homes. A Helena National Forest agency administrator said some structures may have been piles of logs, but officials must review ownership records to be certain. An interagency team on September 1 will begin a review of the wildfire, which started as a prescribed burn that grew out of control August 26. The team will look at all factors that led up to the ignition. Fire officials said August 31 that the Davis fire is 50 percent contained. The cost of fighting the blaze is estimated to be $1.3 million. Meanwhile, the 315-acre Downing fire in the
Bitterroot National Forest was 55 percent contained early August 31.
Source: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_cb25d9a0b51c-11df-9a0e-001cc4c002e0.html
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64.
August 31, Associated Press – (West Virginia) More of WV wildlife management area closed after bunker’s explosion. West Virginia officials have closed more of the
McClintic Wildlife Management Area where gunpowder stored in an underground bunker exploded in May. The state Division of Natural Resources said 305 acres of the area near Point Pleasant are closed until further notice. The agency said the state fire marshal ordered the action because of the potential for fire or explosion. The state closed 175 acres in June. The rest of the Mason County wildlife management area’s
3,665 acres remain open to the public. During World War II, the U.S. Army built several concrete bunkers on the property to store munitions. The DNR now owns the bunkers and leases them for storage. No one was injured in the May 17 blast. An investigation is continuing.
Source: http://www.whsv.com/westvirginiaap/headlines/101881533.html
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For another story, see item 23
65.
August 31, WVIR 29 Charlottesville – (Virginia) Ragged Mountain Dam study released. Three options are on the table that could ensure the future of Charlottesville’s water supply without building a new Ragged Mountain Dam in Virginia. They all have price tags in the millions but could still save taxpayers money when compared to starting from scratch. The estimates come just weeks after a first study found the current Ragged Mountain Dam could support an expansion, but the alternatives to building a new dam range dramatically in size and cost. The options were developed by engineering firm Black and Veatch at the request of the Charlottesville City Council.
Option one raises the dam by 45 feet at an expected cost of $15.8 to $21.4 million.
Option two raises the level of the dam by 13 feet with a price tag of $8.8 to $12 million.
Option three involves dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and repairing the dam. It would fix the existing dam so that it meets current safety standards, for between
$5.5 and $7.4 million. The council planned a work session September 2 to review the numbers. It will officially take up the issue at its September 7 meeting.
Source: http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=13078045
66.
August 31, KECI 13 Missoula – (Montana) Safety top priority of PPL Montana after rock fall at Madison Dam. PPL Montana is reducing water level in Ennis Lake in
Ennis, Montana as the first step in a plan to assess and repair the damage caused when a large boulder, about the size of a bus, broke loose and fell onto the Madison Dam
August 30. “Safety of the public and employees is the top priority as we begin the response effort,” said the director of external affairs for PPL Montana. “The facility remains in a stable condition and there is no need for public action.” The immediate priorities of PPL Montana are to draw down Ennis Lake to reduce pressure on the dam while experts assess the status of a large section of rock remaining on the canyon wall above the dam. PPL Montana has increased the water release rate on the lower Madison
River to 3,300 cubic feet per second, which will speed the drawdown and have a
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] limited effect on downstream recreational uses of the river. To maintain recreational uses in the upper Madison River above Ennis Lake, PPL Montana proposes no flow reductions below Hebgen Reservoir at this time. Local law enforcement officials have closed the road to the dam at Trail Creek trailhead, in effect closing the Madison River immediately downstream of the dam to recreational uses.
Source: http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/24828251/detail.html
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